Ever get back doored? What was the item? What is your story?

[TheBiRD | 137]

Last Sunday, I hit a homerun. For a minute, that holy grail was mine. Beside the fact that it doesn’t show often, I got it for an amazing deal.. well I tought this was real :

I got the invoice when I was sleeping because seller has to give me the final invoice including shipping to Canada. By the morning. I got that message..

and finally tracked this new sale hours after:

 

Extreme joy to extreme stress to extreme disappointment.

 

Now trying to forget that it happened without drinking too much.

Edited May 17, 2022 by TheBiRD

[Tabonga | 2,317]

Sounds like you got back doored big time.

Happened to me once on a rare item and the seller had the audacity to resell it shortly after I won/paid for it.  Ebay of course would do nothing.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Tabonga

[TheBiRD | 137]

20 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

Sounds like you got back doored big time.

Happened to me once on a rare item and the seller had the audacity to resell it shortly after I won/paid for it.  Ebay of course would do nothing.

It hurts, you remember what item it was?

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

Thought this thread was about something else

 

 

Yes, multiple times. Probably 5-10 times. I always get bummed at first, then realize I am thankful that I research items value before I sell them so I dont have to be a douchebag. 
 

Honestly, unless it was 500$+ or more, I wouldnt even cancel a sale. Someone can just get one over on me. 

[fcgamer | 4,723]

Of course, it happens. I had one situation where the guy shamelessly refused to sell to me and sold to a local instead, after I made the purchase, guess he was worried about selling to a foreigner, chewed him out quite a bit and even proceeded to buy a cheap item from him just to get his address and bank account details, he didn't really appreciate that but I like to know information about this sort of people.

Rarely though have I been backdoored.

On the reverse, I don't think I've ever taken a higher offer to someone that wanted to make an offer and backdoor. I'm not going to sell out my name, even if it is $500+, lol.

[Tabonga | 2,317]

1 hour ago, TheBiRD said:

It hurts, you remember what item it was?

There was a series of paperback books published during wwii called quick readers - there were only 49 tiltes in the series and the rarest was this:

Doesn't look like much but if you need it to fill out the collection (which I do) it is more impressive looking.  The seller had listed a bunch of the series for $20 each on buy it nows and this was one of them. It is one of those things that surfaces rarely so it is hard to assign a value to it.

The next day I get the cancelled notice and when I messaged him he said that someone else had actually bought it before me and the second listing was a mistake.   

I aksed the seller for the listing number and he gave me a bogus one  - so I tracked the one down where he sold it and when I pointed out the time favored my purchase he ignored me.   Then he whined when I left him negative feedback - go figure.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

2 hours ago, Tabonga said:

There was a series of paperback books published during wwii called quick readers - there were only 49 tiltes in the series and the rarest was this:

Doesn't look like much but if you need it to fill out the collection (which I do) it is more impressive looking.  The seller had listed a bunch of the series for $20 each on buy it nows and this was one of them. It is one of those things that surfaces rarely so it is hard to assign a value to it.

The next day I get the cancelled notice and when I messaged him he said that someone else had actually bought it before me and the second listing was a mistake.   

I aksed the seller for the listing number and he gave me a bogus one  - so I tracked the one down where he sold it and when I pointed out the time favored my purchase he ignored me.   Then he whined when I left him negative feedback - go figure.

How much  did the other listing sell for?

[Tabonga | 2,317]

49 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

How much  did the other listing sell for?

He also sold it at $20 - I suspect the other party offered him a lot more and they left it at $20 to save fees. I pointed that out to the not very helpful people at ebay and that if they checked the paypal transactions they might find one more larger one - which they could have collected fees on.  

[DarkTone | 984]

That..... that makes no sense. Unless I missed something. 

[Tabonga | 2,317]

5 hours ago, DarkTone said:

That..... that makes no sense. Unless I missed something. 

You are making the mistake of trying to make sense out of what others do*.  I can't get at the reasoning for even relisting the thing at any price - just finishing the sale off of ebay would have worked just as well - probably better.  

 

*It has been my experience that such endeavors are usually like taking a long walk off a short pier.    

[goldenpp72 | 1,234]

It's happened a bunch to the point I kind of expect it on certain things and usually establish contact with the seller prior, since I have a lot of business on eBay I can sometimes get them to press harder on shady stuff as well. 

My first instance was Kid Dracula years ago where I won the item but it became 'lost', I was able to convince eBay to look into it and he got busted for doing an off eBay sale, still didn't get the game though. Anytime I'm dealing in high value stuff though I'll try to touch base first. With my recent buy of Amazing Tater I assumed people would be shady and I kind of got that air from the seller, but it's pretty bullshit when you win and then someone offers more even though you bid a lot more, it's the definition of unfair and stupid so I try to make it as unpleasant as I can from there. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by goldenpp72

[TDIRunner | 2,734]

It was years ago on Facebook Marketplace.  It was an assortment of N64 games for a good price and I was the first person to respond saying that I would take them.  We agreed to a meeting place and a time and I drove there.  After arriving, I got a message saying the games were already sold and gone.  I told the seller what they did was shitty, but he didn't seem to care.  He was a young kid and didn't sell anything else on Marketplace so he didn't have a seller reputation to worry about.

The best part was later that evening on a local Facebook collecting group that I'm a regular member of, the buyer posted his "pickups" and bragged about how good of a deal he got.  I commented below with screenshots of everything he did.  Everyone in the group blasted him for being a dick.  But he didn't care.  I found out later he does that stuff all of the time.  That was my first experience with him, but I could write an entire thread about what I've seen him do over the years.  He is the type of person to ask for a deal because his Mom is sick, and then flip the games later the same day and list them on the same page where he bought them.  

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

Like others have said I just figure it’s part of the game. It happens. Like @TDIRunner I drove 45 minutes out once on a n64 lot, in contact with the seller the whole way but then ghosted when I arrived at the meet spot.

another time agreed $120 on a big ps2 lot. Guy dicked me around for three days and raised the price I told him piss off. Next day I guy post it in a local fb group talking about “check out my haul” I did the exact same thing showed screen shots of the messages. Not really his fault and I wasn’t mad at him the seller was the dick.

hell even been a victim of backdoor offers on this site. Boston dicked me around on wings of wor. Agreed to $150 them 7 days later says he has an offer for $200. Fuck that guy. Ya I still am pissed about that lol.

but it’s a shady game that we play. 
 

and early in my collecting I sent a back door offer on a lot of games and got them. I’m not losing any sleep over it but I never did and never will do it again. It just wasn’t idk the way I want to do things.

i just sold a magic card for $100 and got back door offers for more. I just politely deny them and say “this is a done deal”

but at the end of the day it’s a shady game we play. $ talks, alls fair….. 

but I learned to be smarter. Don’t put a lot on the line and if it don’t happen…”it wasn’t meant to be” shit was broke or scratched is what I tell myself when I miss.

Edited May 18, 2022 by docile tapeworm

[guitarzombie | 924]

The only one I can really think of is some friends of mine bought a Final Fight arcade stand up for $500, paid, then the next day got a refund for no reason.

[TDIRunner | 2,734]

16 minutes ago, docile tapeworm said:

 

but I learned to be smarter. Don’t put a lot on the line and if it don’t happen…”it wasn’t meant to be” shit was broke or scratched is what I tell myself when I miss.

Another way to look at it is to think about all of the good deals you've come across where you weren't backdoored.  It was probably almost 10 years ago, but I still vividly remember a deal on a huge PS2 lot.  It included 91 games (no sports titles) along with a fat PS2, several memory cards, two of the good wireless controllers, and the PS2 modem for $100.  When I picked up the lot, the seller mentioned that she must have received 20 more phone calls after I agreed to buy it, but she kept telling them that she had already agreed to sell it to someone else.  She didn't say, but I can guarantee that many of those calls offered more than $100 for the lot.  

[docile tapeworm | 4,198]

@TDIRunner no doubt. I’ve had my fair share of epic hauls.

[RH | 4,903]

I know I’ve been backdoored but it’s nothing too significant to recall. I think another question is if you were the seller, at what point would a back door buyer cause you to accept the offer? If I sold an item for $100 and someone offered me $200, I’d tell them to walk. But what about $300… $500… $1,000?

It’s tough to say a specific limit.  Even if you think $1,000 is too low, but what if it was a truly rare case where the back door buyer was honest and said something like “it’s a very rare version of a common item and your buyer may not even know what they have.  I’ll give you $25,000 for it!”

As Skinny said, we some times walk in shady areas.  I want to be ethical and fair in all my dealings so I try to keep the perspective of all parties.  Whether I’m the buyer or the seller, I think I can give some sellers a pass if they learned that they sold something to me super cheap and selling it at a proper amount could give them significant funds and maybe even change their lives.

Regardless, I have never tried to back door an item but I have asked the sellers to contact the buyer and see if they would talk with a fellow collector about the item they just bought. In that case, I make it sound like I want details about the item (and I usually do) but instead of backdooring, I’ll talk to the new owner and see if they want to make a quick flipped profit.  It’s never worked but at least it feels honest.

Edited May 18, 2022 by RH

[Ferris Bueller | 495]

You can backdoor on VGS with no repercussions, I asked. NA was an instant ban IIRC.

[spacepup | 2,404]

41 minutes ago, Ferris Bueller said:

You can backdoor on VGS with no repercussions, I asked. NA was an instant ban IIRC.

I don't believe this is entirely true, but I've sent you a PM to get some clarification on this.

We do have a site rule as follows:
5. Reneging on a deal after it was paid for is grounds for disciplinary action.

Therefore, if members here agree to a deal, and someone backs out after the deal is agreed/paid, that is definitely against the rules.  This would apply regardless of the reason for someone backing out.

Our goal with VGS is to be less directly involved in member transactions, so we typically want to give users the freedom to work things out between themselves - however, we do still have rules in place.   We also have the feedback system so that someone can leave negative feedback if they have a bad experience.  Keeping up with the 'Hall of Shame' like on the NA days was a nightmare - so we want to move away from that.

Specifically regarding backdooring, I've been the victim of that as well and it's definitely very frustrating.  I do not want to see that going on here, at all.

 

[Ferris Bueller | 495]

My guess is I asked before this was an actual rule. It was a while back.

[a3quit4s | 4,096]

Haven't had it happen to me anywhere that I can remember and if it did it must have been on an item that wasn't important to me. With a few exceptions I've had nothing but positivity dealing with folks here and continues to be my #1 go to when I need something.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

3 hours ago, RH said:

I know I’ve been backdoored but it’s nothing too significant to recall. I think another question is if you were the seller, at what point would a back door buyer cause you to accept the offer? If I sold an item for $100 and someone offered me $200, I’d tell them to walk. But what about $300… $500… $1,000?

I view back dooring as being on a similar level to knowingly and willingly seducing and sleeping with someone's spouse or fiancee. I don't care if it's $20 or $20,000, it's something I personally don't want to get caught up in, I personally hold myself to a higher standard.

In a situation where you researched but overlooked a detail and it makes the item you thought was garbage worth tens of thousands...well just act as grown adults then and "sit down" and talk about it. Tell the original party what's up, give them the first right of refusal.

No need to make thinly veiled lies to people. I mean, at the end of the day I also feel that there's possibly a strike against buying something for pennies and flipping it for millions. 

I try to be honest and fair when dealing with anyone, it's something I refuse to compromise as I've gotten older, especially not for something as money.

 

[RH | 4,903]

3 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

I view back dooring as being on a similar level to knowingly and willingly seducing and sleeping with someone's spouse or fiancee. I don't care if it's $20 or $20,000, it's something I personally don't want to get caught up in, I personally hold myself to a higher standard.

In a situation where you researched but overlooked a detail and it makes the item you thought was garbage worth tens of thousands...well just act as grown adults then and "sit down" and talk about it. Tell the original party what's up, give them the first right of refusal.

No need to make thinly veiled lies to people. I mean, at the end of the day I also feel that there's possibly a strike against buying something for pennies and flipping it for millions. 

I try to be honest and fair when dealing with anyone, it's something I refuse to compromise as I've gotten older, especially not for something as money.

 

No, I 100% agree with you.  If I cancelled a sale because of a misunderstanding in value, I'd let the buyer know that.   I wouldn't "hide" it under some pretense like "oops, the item was damaged!  No sale!!!"   That is 100% wrong.  But if someone bought something, then you realized it was worth significantly worth MORE than what they paid, I see nothing wrong with following your guidelines.  And as a buyer, I wouldn't be offended by that.    Sure, I'd hate to miss an amazingly insane deal on something rare, but at the same note, I just wouldn't be offended if someone honestly told me what happened and cancelled the deal.

When it comes to being honest, I 100% feel all parties should be honest (and even giving the original buyer first-right to refuse an offer is fair.)  What I am specifically saying is that I have nothing against cancelling a sell for a a low-ball offer when you learn it's worth a sizable amount of money.

[DarkTone | 984]

8 hours ago, Tabonga said:

You are making the mistake of trying to make sense out of what others do*.  I can't get at the reasoning for even relisting the thing at any price - just finishing the sale off of ebay would have worked just as well - probably better.  

 

*It has been my experience that such endeavors are usually like taking a long walk off a short pier.    

Fair enough. 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,012]

I gave up trying to get deals on FB /CL because it happens so often. Like easily 9 out of 10 times. The only way you don't get back doored is if you get there to pay for it within 20 minutes or you get the 1% of people who honor first come first serve. 

Edited May 18, 2022 by RegularGuyGamer